Smithers - little Switzerland

Freshly fortified by the sensational delicious burger, we continue about 600 km to Smithers the next morning. Of course, with a few stops at Walmart, Save on Food (little globe), Starbucks, Canadian Tire...we are becoming quite the shoppers :-) We are not lacking in food and Verny accessories.

The Riverside campsite in Smithers is beautiful again. There is a forest behind us with a tireless bird - Ti ta taaaaaa (up - down - down). It never stops singing, it doesn't even take time to eat!

The hike yesterday was supposed to be a circular hike, not too long and not too strenuous. After the first 3 km, there is a house. Marcel managed to overcome himself and ask for directions - oh, that's the wrong way... The nice man explains the way to us and tells us that Smithers is called 'little Switzerland'. Okay, we turn around and go in the mentioned direction.

Suddenly a truck comes, it's the man with his wife and children. He offers to drive us to the trailhead on the loading area. Very friendly. On the way, we spot a black bear mom with three cubs, which also delighted him. Apparently, it is unusual for bears to have three cubs, 1 or 2 is more common.
As it happens, we only brought the smallest camera along....

In the end, the hike turned out to be not a circular hike but a 'steep uphill and then downhill due to exhaustion'. And that with a bit of a 'nervous' feeling. The forest is much denser than we are used to and with the knowledge that there are bears, moose, and other unfamiliar animals, you walk with much more respect.

After a delicious dinner at the Alpenhorn restaurant, we continue to Terrace today in sunshine and 9 degrees.